Why don’t we put common names on plant labels?

There’s not enough space on the standard green plant label.

As we always include both the English and Welsh language, we need to fit two common names on. We also need to decide which common names to use – unfortunately, many plants have several common names, often regionally based. So which ones do we choose?

Other plants, either have no common name, or a variety of common names from their country of origin. The scientific or ‘Latin’ name of a plant is universal, it relates to just one particular plant and is understood by gardeners, plant-lovers and botanists world-wide.

As the green plant labels are often lowto the ground as well, we think adding text would make it even harder to read the scientific name. Should we make the labels bigger? We have several thousand plant labels on site and we think there’s a danger they may become visually intrusive.

Having said this, you will find some larger plant labels, or plants featured on trails, that DO include common names. These are intended to draw attention to a story about each plant, and as we need to appeal to a wide audience, we compromise.

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